Tips for cooking competition-quality pork ribs

Make sure you remove your rib membrane from the slab of ribs. Some people keep it on because they claim it helps the rib retain moisture... but if you cook your ribs right, they will be moist without the rib membrane. When you remove this rib membrane, you can add rub, sauce and flavor to the back of your ribs.

Don't start cooking your ribs with a rub that has too much sugar in it because this sugar WILL burn during the cooking process and it WILL leave you with a bitter taste to your ribs. Keep the sugar off until the last 1hr to 30mins... then add the sugar and let it carmalize on your rib instead of burning on your rib.

When you take your ribs out of the fridge, make sure you go ahead and apply the rub to your ribs and the LET THEM COME UP TO ROOM TEMP. This will take about 20 - 30 minutes. This allows the fibers in your meat to "open up" and it also keeps the ribs from being "shocked" by going from cold to hot... which can cause your ribs to be tough.

Don't add too much smoke to your ribs because too much smoke can cause your ribs to taste bitter. From the time you put your ribs on the smoker until they reach 225 degree internal (about 2 hours) you can add smoke flavor. But after that point, the pores basically "close" and the only place you are going to add smoke is the outer layers... too much smoke on the outer layers of your ribs will maek them taste very, very bitter.

They say, "if you ain't wrapping, you ain't winning". This is because most competition BBQ teams wrap their ribs in heavy duty aluminum foil to acheive the perfect tenderness. After you have applied the smoke to your ribs, wrap them in foil - without letting the bones poke holes in the foil - and continue to cook them with a clean charcoal for about 1hr and 45 minutes. This will make your ribs very tender - once they have reached this point you can take them out of the foil and begin adding your sugars or your glaze.

You always need to have a good finishing rub that has plenty of sugars and packs a nice, gentle heat. Simply add this finishing rub to your ribs after you have removed them from the foil and let them finish - while absorbing the flavors in that finishing rub. This will give your ribs a true "wow" factor.